On a campus known for driven and ambitious students, stress can quickly take on a life of its own. Students carry more than just heavy course loads and extracurricular commitments. Many also shoulder the burdensome expectation that they should be handling it all effortlessly. The College of William and Mary’s chapter of Active Minds is trying to break this pattern by offering a place where students can talk openly about mental health and find a community that pushes back against the idea that exhaustion is something to brag about.
Vice President Erika Nielsen ’27 described the group’s mission.
“We’re trying to mobilize youth and young people to get in the conversation to change the conversation surrounding mental health,” Nielsen said.
That mission is reflected not only in the group’s programming, but also in the way its members view the role they hope the organization plays on campus.
Part of a larger network, the College’s chapter of Active Minds has elected new leadership that is focused on building up membership and strengthening its presence on campus. The group is notably welcoming and accepting of all members, with no formal dues or membership commitments. Instead, it aims to provide an experience customizable to the needs of each individual.
“There’s a need and a demand for mental health support on campus,” Nielsen said.
That accessibility is central to the group’s identity. Rather than having rigid or demanding participation requirements, Active Minds allows students to engage at their own pace. For some, that may mean attending a speaker event or one of the chapter’s more social gatherings. For others, it may mean simply stopping by to see what the group is about.
To support this goal, the group tailors its activities and speaker opportunities to the interests of its members. The Out of Darkness Walk, held in partnership with the College’s chapter of Alpha Tau Omega and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, stood out as one of the group’s favorites.
President Jia Patil ’29 said guest lectures are also especially valuable because of what they offer.
“I really enjoyed our guest professor speakers. It’s nice hearing about cutting edge research and the everyday practices that we can use coming out of their work,” Patil said.
That combination of research and practical advice reflects the group’s broader approach of active engagement with mental health topics that feel both relevant and applicable to daily student life. For Patil, joining Active Minds meant more than involvement in a student organization. As a neuroscience major on the pre-med track with a psychology minor, she described mental health as a personal passion, as well as an academic interest. This connection has helped shape her vision for the chapter’s future.
For Cassidy Ott ’29, the group’s secretary and outreach chair, the appeal of Active Minds lies in its purpose. Ott noted why she wanted to take on a leadership role.
“I just think it’s a really important club because it obviously is one of our missions, reducing the stigma of mental health, and that topic is really important to me,” Ott said.
Ott also pointed to academic pressure and competition as some of the biggest mental health challenges students face at the College.
Nielsen echoed that perspective, talking about academic competition at the College.
“I think stress culture is a big one because we’re almost competing with each other about how stressed we are, and while we really want to strive to be as productive and thriving as possible, it’s not always about who’s doing the most,” Nielsen said.
Students often juggle research, extracurricular activities, jobs and demanding coursework. This tension suggests a campus culture in which overcommitment can become normalized or even expected.
Nielsen added that pressure can make it easy for students to forget that taking care of themselves matters just as much as academic success or community involvement.
“As William and Mary students, we often hold ourselves to such a high standard and it’s really important to take care of ourselves alongside doing all of the wonderful things we’re doing,” Nielsen said.
While a student’s mental health journey begins long before they come to college, the culture and dialogue surrounding mental health on campus play a vital role in shaping both internal and external attitudes. Though the College makes admirable strides toward combatting the mental health crisis, an exceptional amount of pressure lingers on campus, particularly revolving around stress culture. Active Minds members are satisfied with the mental health services provided by the school, though members acknowledged that demand continues to outpace the number of available providers. Nielsen mentioned another difficulty.
“It’s not always easy to know what the resources are,” Nielsen said.
During freshman orientation, she said, students are flooded with information, and the details about support services can get lost. For some students, that makes it hard to know where to turn if support is needed later.
With the direction of the group’s faculty advisor Carina Sudarsky-Gleiser, the director of the Counseling Center, the organization works to both complement the College’s efforts and fill in the remaining gaps.
One of the club’s recurring collaborations is called “Get in the Friend Zone,” an event held at least once a semester in conjunction with the Counseling Center. As a familiar favorite, the relaxed nature of this event reaffirms the low pressure commitment to the club. It provides a space for students to make authentic connections, often through food, conversation and a shared sense of community without judgement or expectation.
This kind of programming reflects one of Active Minds’ clearest strengths, according to members. The club does not treat mental health as something that only matters in moments of crisis. Instead, it creates small, practical spaces where students can build support systems before times come when they may be needed most. Rather than acting as just another club to add to an already busy student schedule, Active Minds represents a space that views mental health not as an afterthought, but as a central part of campus life. In doing so, Active Minds not only supports individual students, but also works to reshape how the campus as a whole thinks about stress culture and what it means to practice wellness.
